20 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
THE TABLES O F EARLY AMERICA 
For Which Collectors Are Ever on Watch Because of Their 
Intrinsic Merit of Staunch Construction and Virile Line 
GARDNER TEALL 
The very early American table was apt to be of a 
cumbersome type. This, a rugged piece of fine old 
chestnut, dates about 1650-1675 
A MONG collectors in 
this country there is 
an ever-increasing inter¬ 
est in things American. 
One of the most attrac¬ 
tive fields possible in this 
connection is that of fur¬ 
niture. Nearly everyone 
appreciates old furniture 
of good design and cares 
to know something of its 
history. America, both 
in Colonial times and in 
the period following the 
Declaration of Independ¬ 
ence, produced pieces of 
furniture of many sorts. 
Some of it was excellent, 
most of it was good and 
a little of it was wholly 
of an indifferent value. 
As table-makers the early 
American craftsmen 
showed their skill, and 
such examples of their work as are to be 
met with will not fail to attract the atten¬ 
tion of the alert collector, who, having a 
house, knows that, by some mysterious 
providence, no matter how small that house 
may be, there seems always room for and 
need for “just one more table” if the table 
is a find and of interest as an American 
antique of genuine authenticity. 
With tables, as well as with other pieces 
of furniture, the early American craftsmen 
who produced the finer examples did not 
allow themselves the departure from Euro¬ 
pean models that were sufficiently numerous 
with the American furniture makers by the 
close of the 18th Century and at the be¬ 
ginning of the 19th. Much furniture from 
England came into the Colonies, and later 
much French furniture. 
If we turn now to English reflections in 
American work, we shall 
find decidedly interesting 
comparisons. 
There is often little or 
nothing to mark early 
American pieces from 
their English prototypes. 
However, there was no 
“slumping” either in qual¬ 
ity of material, workman¬ 
ship or finish in American 
furniture. The Colonial 
cabinet-makers here were 
thorough and conscien¬ 
tious, although not always 
“artistic,” perhaps. Cer¬ 
tainly these craftsmen had 
at their command the 
finest woods — maple, 
pine, walnut, birch, chest¬ 
nut, and the ships brought 
in much mahogany. Ex¬ 
tant examples of this 
early craftsmanship show 
at once the intrinsic merit of staunch con¬ 
struction and virile line that make them so 
much sought by collectors. 
Previous to 1776 we must expect Ameri¬ 
can native furniture to run parallel in style 
(with natural lagging tendencies, of course) 
to the English periods with which they are 
contemporary. In the earliest times of the 
Colonies, when voyages were few and far 
between, large shipments of furniture were 
not to be considered. As the wealth of the 
individual Colonists increased, luxuries 
came to hold a place in trade that they could 
not have held earlier. With the advent, too, 
of Colonial officials, fat of purse, sent over 
by the mother country, came articles to en¬ 
hance their comfort. One could be more 
contented with an easy chair than without, 
and little by little the rude bench furniture 
of the Pilgrims was locally developed (re- 
A drop-leaf table of 
American design, exe¬ 
cuted in mahogany, 
circa 1750. Note the in¬ 
genious triangular drop 
American Queen Anne 
followed the English de¬ 
signs and decorative mo¬ 
tifs. This rectangular 
table was made 1725- 
1750 
An American William 
and Mary piece with 
saltire stretcher and 
exaggerated central pen¬ 
dant ornament. Maple 
and pine. 1690-1702 
